Little Jimmy Can Count To 50, and I Did 50 Push Ups!

Article by Glenn Dickstein

The birth of a child sends a person’s life into a whirlwind of adjustment. Being there for your new baby becomes the activity of every free second. Many new parents are only away from the baby when it is absolutely necessary. They leave to go to work, the bathroom, or to sleep. Unfortunately, this extra time with baby, can come at the expense of other activities that used to be an important part of your routine. One of those might have been exercise. Exercise has a host of benefits from increased energy and stress reduction, to getting sick less. Removing exercise from your routine can have an adverse effect on all of those. When you can’t get to the gym, have a back up plan. If you stay at home to take care of your child, your living floor can operate as a workout space..

The first thing you need to do is get a few pieces of equipment. Consider purchasing some exercise bands, a jump rope, and some adjustable dumb bells. All of these can slide under your bed or fit easily in your closet. If you have the space for storage, for about $ 12, purchase a stability ball. It is an extremely versatile piece of equipment to have around. These items are readily available in your local sporting goods store. The jump rope and bands will probably cost you around $ 25. The weights could run a couple hundred dollars. You could skip the dumb bells, but they add some versatility to your workouts.

A great feature about these items is that they are quiet when in use. Keep your own noises to a minimum if your child is taking a nap. You can use your jump rope to get some cardiovascular exercise into the mix. You can vary the tempo and jumping style. You can use it in between sets or in one long stretch. The stretch bands are great for getting a total body workout. You can do curls. You can do extensions. You can do presses. As far as dumb bell exercises, you could write a book on all that can be done. With any of these, the addition of the stability ball will help incorporate the use of many smaller muscle groups that help with balance. Also, a great many abdominal exercise can be accomplished with the stability ball, so you can constantly be working your core.

What if your child wakes up? Don’t use it as an excuse to stop. Try another approach. That is letting your child help you with your workout. Your kids learn from you. Let them see you being active. Kids love to copy what their dads are doing. If it is age appropriate, you can have them “help” you count your repetitions. It is a good way for them to learn and practice counting if they count along with you. Your spouse will be happy to, when they come home and find out that little Jimmy knows how to count to 50 and you did 50 push ups. They get strong in mind, you get strong in body. If you are going to do some sit-ups, ask them to hold your feet. Again, they are engaged and learning, while you finish up the last few minutes of your workout. Eventually, they may even want to try to do some exercises alongside of you. Not that I am advocating children lifting weights at all, but they do need to be active and playfully doing a few push ups or sit ups next to you will help them learn about their bodies.

The point is, when the opportunity to sneak off to a gym is not there, exercise is still an option. You can troll the internet for some great ‘living room” workout programs, or you may want to seek the advice of a personal trainer in your area. They can design and teach you a program, as well as tell you what type of equipment to buy. With young children, there is always something to do. You may not find the time to sit down on the living room couch, but you can certainly find 20 minutes to exercise on the living room floor.

In this video I am starting a challenge to do 100 consecutive pushups in less than 6 weeks! I have never been great at pushup’s so it “WILL” be a great challenge for me. Please post comments or videos of your goals!